


new skins

by jessamoo



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Pre Curse, for a ficathon, season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 04:36:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2256120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessamoo/pseuds/jessamoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt "promise you'll remember that you're mine"</p>
            </blockquote>





	new skins

The sweet little girl of scarlet had the heart of a wolf, and the fur of the rug felt like a second skin as she lay naked upon it, looking up with calm eyes at her dark queen.

“I am to do a terrible thing, my love.” The queen said, not to her, to the room that hid them. Red was used to this. The queen belonged to spaces and things, not to people, not any more.

The queen stared out the window of her imperious castle, into the night, which didn’t scare her any more, as it used to. She was part of the night now; she was one of its dark creatures. She had wrapped herself in leather after raising herself from the floor, like an infallible mask for the whole of her beautiful body, as if the skin of her thighs held secrets her face didn’t.

“So much more terrible than those you have done already? Than those we have done?” Red raised her eyebrow, but not in a mocking way – she had a teasing tone that implied friendliness rather than cruelty. The queen softened as she turned her face against her shoulder to glance at the other woman.

“Yes. I am resolved, but I thought it only fair that I tell you...it will be...inescapable. For everyone. We may lose one another, for a time.”

At this Red began to pay real attention. She sat up in a flash, like a wolf catching onto a scent. She seemed angry, at the talk of separation. Like the queen, she had not revealed the inner workings of her heart in words. The terms of endearment they used were originally for lack of anything better, and if they had grown to have more meaning, neither woman admitted it until now, until it was too late. Red stalked up to her as the queen turned round fully, and stopped so close to her that they touched whenever they moved.

“Then why do this thing? Surely...surely you do not want to loose me. To loose this.” She reached for the queen’s hand and held it against her breast to feel her heart. As she began to trail the hand further down, the queen wrenched it away and shoved past her, into the wide space of the room.

The queens shoulders hunched over and Red realised she was crying. However, when the queen turned back round to face her, it was not sadness that was there, though tears lay on her cheeks seemingly forgotten as soon as they fell. Instead, she marched back to red and scowled at her. When she spoke, her voice was rough and frenzied. She grabbed hold of Red’s naked shoulders and held hard, so hard her red nails scratched at her – Red savoured what may have been her last contact with her lover, even if it hurt.

“There is a way. Maybe. This will not make sense to you, but you have to listen to me carefully if you ever want to be with me again. Do you understand?”

Fear and anger flashed in both of their eyes, but not at each other, at the prospect of losing one another, even for a moment.

“You have to remember. Remember. Everything we have done and every word i have ever said to you. Remember you. Remember your name, and mine, and this place. Store it inside of you, bury it, and when it is time, remember that we once loved each other. Remember that you were once mine.”

Red nodded and cautiously leaned forward, pressing her face to the queen’s dark hair and they slowly wrapped their arms around one another.

“How could I forget, your majesty?”

She did not realise this made the queen cry again.

 

The queen stared at her. She looked the same. Always the same, just like everyone did in this town. In this strange way, they could in fact be together forever – like flies caught in amber, never growing old or changing. She tried to hold onto this, every time Red’s - no, Ruby now, - Ruby’s eyes, slid across her without the slightest bit of real recognition or concern – but it didn’t really help. She still longed for the day when Ruby would become Red again, her real and true self.

“Here you go Mayor.”

Every time Regina took a coffee cup from Ruby’s hand, she let their fingers brush. The new girl never seemed to notice, but Regina would keep trying. Perhaps one day, their fingers would meet and it would feel the same for both of them, and Ruby would remember, and come back.

How pathetic of her to wish upon stars. How pathetic and cruel to herself. And oh how much she wanted it, her red girl back.


End file.
